A Small Mistake
by HannaHeyes
Summary: It's the morning after the amnesty came through and Curry can't find Heyes.


A/N - This was inspired by an actual experience I had once on a vacation...except there was no alcohol involved.

A Small Mistake

The ceiling looked fuzzy and appeared to be moving slowly in a circle as he lay on his back. Kid Curry blinked his bloodshot eyes a few times trying to focus on what he was looking at. Finally, after a few seconds, the couple of cracks on the ceiling came into focus. He groaned as he brought his hand up to rub his forehead. He sat up slowly on the bed and the room swam as he became partially upright. He leaned on his elbows for a moment or two then sat completely up. Apparently, he had slept in his clothes since he was still fully dressed, boots and all. His shirt was untucked and halfway unbuttoned, his jacket was in the floor, and his hat was nowhere to be seen. His head was pounding as he held it in his hands. "How much did you let me drink last night Heyes?"

He made his over to the basin to wash his face. He splashed on some cold water and softly wiped his face off. It was then he noticed the silence in the room. No movement, no soft snoring, nothing. Kid slowly raised his head to look over at the other bed. It was empty. "Heyes?" He looked around the small hotel room. The only thing he saw that belonged to his cousin were his saddlebags. There was no sign of his hat, jacket, or gunbelt. Curry then realized his partner hadn't returned to their room the previous night.

It even hurt his head to try to think. Last night was mostly a blur. He remembered he and Heyes had went to the saloon to celebrate after arriving in Porterville and hearing from Lom that the amnesty had finally been approved. They must have celebrated pretty heavily. Curry tried as hard as he could to remember more. It seemed like he had left the saloon before Heyes. He could recall Heyes had found a lady friend to talk to. So, yes, he had returned to the hotel before his partner. He had left because he had felt like he was going to throw up. But that was all his brain was willing to let him see. Next thing he knew he was waking up to a throbbing headache and a swirling ceiling.

Maybe Heyes had spent the night with his saloon girl. Kid just wanted to lay back down but decided he needed to go check. Slowly, he stood up and stretched. He had yet to locate his hat. He checked the chairs, the dresser, under the bed, it wasn't to be found. He picked his jacket up off the floor and put it on. Then he stood in the middle of the room trying to think what he had done with his hat. He didn't know. As he scanned once more around the room, his eyes caught a glimpse of something brown under the pillow on his bed. He went and picked the pillow up and there was his hat, squashed. He had no idea what had possessed him to put his hat under his pillow and sleep on it. He pushed it back into shape and plopped it on his head.

Walking out of the hotel door, Curry squinted as sunlight attacked his eyes. "Why couldn't it have been cloudy today?" He pulled his hat a little lower to shield his face from the blazing ball of fire in the sky and started toward the saloon.

oooooooooo

"Mornin' Mr. Jones! Little early for a drink ain't it? Thought you would have gotten enough of that last night." The bartender smiled as he wiped down the tables.

Kid walked slowly over from the batwing doors. "You mind talkin' a little softer? My head's about to bust."

The bartender laughed. Curry cringed. "Ain't no wonder! I don't know what you and your partner were celebratin' last night, but you sure put away the alcohol."

"Well, my partner's why I'm here. He didn't come back to the hotel last night. Did he spend the night with Elaine?"

The bartender thought for a second. "No. If I remember right, he staggered out of here an hour or so after you left." Then he laughed again. "You tellin' me you lost him?!"

"Thanks," Kid sneered. He could still hear laughter as he stepped back out onto the boardwalk. "Where are you Heyes?" He started on his way to check the cafe when he heard his name called. Looking around, he saw Lom coming out of the hotel.

"There you are. Follow me, I need to talk to you," Lom said as he reached him.

"I can't right now. I need to find Heyes. He didn't come back to the room last night."

Lom raised an eyebrow. "Like I said, follow me." He turned to walk to his office.

Kid swung him back around. "I'll come talk to you when I find Heyes, Lom." His blue bloodshot eyes said the conversation was settled.

Lom brushed off Kid's hand. "Heyes is what I need to talk to you about. I know where he is. Now, come on." He turned once again to head to his office.

Kid's eyes widened. Even that hurt his head, but he didn't pay it any attention at the moment. "Well, spit it out! Where's he at?"

Lom stopped. He sighed and rolling his eyes said, "He's in jail."

oooooooooo

Kid followed Lom into the sheriff's office and looked in the cell. Sure enough, there was his cousin lying on his stomach snoring softly, one arm hanging from the bunk, his jacket and hat still on. Curry was aghast. "Why in the world did you arrest him?" he asked angrily.

Lom ignored the aggravation in Kid's voice. He was pouring two cups of coffee. "I'm sorry, Kid. I didn't want to, but I had to."

"Why?!"

Lom motioned for him to come sit down in front of his desk. Curry complied and the sheriff handed him a cup of coffee. "Here. You look like you need this bad." Lom took a sip of his own cup. "I had to because a judge insisted on it and I believe he would've caused one heck of an uproar if I didn't."

"The judge here in Porterville?"

"No. He's from a town in Montana and he's staying in the hotel. Had Deputy Wilkins drag Heyes in here right before I was leaving to go home."

"From Montana?"

Lom took another sip of coffee. "Yeah. Remember that story you told me a while back about that Fred Philpott guy claiming to be you and almost getting hanged?"

"You mean it's THAT judge? He was pretty aggravated with us by the time that whole mess was straightened out. Said he never wanted to see us again. What exactly happened last night Lom?"

"Well, from piecing together the slurred story Heyes told and what the judge and Wilkins said, this is what went on last night..."

ooooooooooo

The previous evening...

Heyes was nuzzling the neck of Elaine when he was approached by his cousin. He looked up to see Curry standing with his head down slightly and his hand on his stomach.

"Hey...Joshua, I gotta go. Are you comin' with me or what?"

Heyes gave him a goofy grin. "Where you goin'? The night's still young!"

Kid looked up at his partner with one arm around the saloon girl and the other holding an almost empty bottle of whiskey. "It's around mid...(hic)... night and I've drunk so much, I feel like I'm gonna throw it all back up."

"Throw up? You don't usually have any problem holding your liquor."

Kid put a hand on the bar to help steady himself. "I know. I think I ate too many of those eggs at the end of the bar. They ain't settin' right with me. I'm goin' back to the hotel room."

Heyes was still smiling. "Okay. I'll be over a little later." With that, he slapped Kid on the shoulder which almost caused them both to lose their balance. Then he turned back to his lady friend. "Now then. Where were we at?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Curry walked unsteadily out of the watering hole. He almost walked straight into Deputy Wilkins who was on his way to take over the night shift at the sheriff's office.

"Whoa there Mr. Jones."

"S...sorry."

"Where are you headed like this?"

Kid started to answer, but his stomach heaved and grabbing his mouth, he ran around the side of the saloon into the alley. Wilkins followed after the sound of retching had stopped. Kid had his hand on the side of the building to hold himself up. "Well, that helped." He looked up as Wilkins arrived.

Wilkins tried not to look at the amber liquid and egg pieces now lying in a puddle on the ground. "Mr. Jones, I can't let you run around town drunk like this."

Kid rubbed his arm across his mouth. "Don't worry Deputy. I was headed to the hotel."

Wilkins looked at Curry. "Alright. Come on. I'll walk you over there."

Kid straightened up and started walking with Wilkins beside him. He stumbled once and the deputy grabbed his arm to steady him. Slowly, they made their way across the street to the hotel. "You gonna be okay to get to your room on your own?" Wilkins asked turning loose of Curry's arm.

Kid started to nod his head, but thought better of it. "I'll be just fine." He went in and eventually made his way up the stairs and to the room. Wilkins watched from the lobby until Kid disappeared through the room door.

OOOOOOOOOO

About an hour later, Hannibal Heyes staggered his way out of the batwing doors. He sung to himself as he unsteadily made his way to the hotel. Once inside, he waved at the night clerk who was sitting behind the desk reading the newspaper. "Hi!" he called out.

The clerk quickly shushed him. "Not so loud! We got people trying to sleep here. Now, I'm going to ask you to leave before I go get the sheriff."

Heyes looked offended. "Excuse me, but I'm staying here. My room's right up there," he finished pointing up to the second floor.

It was the clerk's turn to look offended. "Well, may I suggest you get to your room and be quiet the rest of the night."

Heyes smirked at the clerk and slowly made his way up the stairs, only stumbling twice. When he arrived at the top, he stood still for a moment until the world stopped spinning. He then made his way to the third door down and knocked on it. "Hey K...Thaddeus. Open up, it's me," he called in what he thought was just a loud whisper. He waited, but there was no answer. He raised an eyebrow and called louder. "Thaddeus!" He banged on the door. Still no answer.

Inside the room, a small balding man had been jerked out of a peaceful sleep. He sat up in bed and looked at the door where he heard a voice and someone banging. He got up, put on his robe, grabbed a derringer from the nightstand beside the bed, and walked over to the door.

Inside room number four, Curry was passed out, sound asleep.

"Alright then. I'll just get in my own way." Heyes swayed as he reached inside his gray jacket and pulled out a lock pick. He had just bent dizzily over to insert the instrument, when the door swung open. He looked up into the barrel of a small gun.

"What are you doing out here at this hour banging on doors and yelling?!" the man grumpily demanded to know.

Heyes stood up and Judge Carter from Montana finally got a good look at the troublemaker. "YOU!"

"Huh?" Heyes was confused. "I'm sorry sir. It seems I am at the wrong place."

Judge Carter glared at him. "I would certainly say so! You caused me enough trouble back in Montana. Then I come to Wyoming, and you show up, STILL making trouble for me."

Heyes smiled as he partially recognized the upset man. "Really, I'm sorry. I'll just be going now." He turned to go, but the judge grabbed his arm, still pointing his weapon.

"Oooh no you don't! I'm going to do what I should've done last time...have you thrown in jail!"

Heyes was starting to get irate. "Now look here. I just made a mistake and knocked on the wrong door. Last time I heard, that wasn't a criminal offense."

"No, but disturbing the peace is. And you're clearly drunk as a skunk swimming in moonshine." The judge jerked on Heyes' arm almost making him fall. He pulled him in front and put the derringer in his back. "Now, MOVE."

Heyes reluctantly started down the hallway and back down the stairs. "Now, there's no sense in this. I'll just go in my room and you won't hear a thing from me the rest of the night."

The judge ignored him as he herded him out the door. Deputy Wilkins was just down the boardwalk making one of his nightly rounds. The judge looked and saw him. "Sheriff! Come here. I've got you a prisoner."

Wilkins walked up to them. "It's deputy, not sheriff." He looked at Heyes. "What are you doing to Mr. Smith?"

"You know this miscreant? Well, it's what he was doing to me! Banging on my door and yelling in the hotel hallway. I want him locked up for disturbing the peace."

"This is just a big misunderstanding," Heyes said trying his best to look innocent.

"Don't give us that look. You're not innocent of anything. Probably haven't been in your whole life," Judge Carter growled.

Heyes bit back a smile at the mostly true statement.

"Now I INSIST he be put behind bars!"

Wilkins truly looked sorry as he sighed. "Well, come on. Follow me." The deputy took hold of Heyes' arm from the judge and led the way down to the sheriff's office.

Lom looked up from putting away his paperwork for the night as the threesome noisily came through the door, the ex-outlaw protesting all the way. Upon seeing Heyes, he sighed inwardly. "What's going on here?"

"Well Lom, it's like this...," Heyes started.

The judge broke in. "Sheriff, I'm Judge Carter from Montana. This heathen was disturbing the peace at the hotel and needs to be locked up!"

Lom kept looking at Heyes who smiled as innocently as he could in his current state of mind. "This true Mr. Smith?"

"I just got mistaken on what room was ours. I didn't mean to wake up Satan here." He pointed a thumb at the judge standing to the side of Wilkins.

Judge Carter gristled at the remark. "I also think he was going to break into my room. He was bent over looking at the lock when I opened the door! Now I absolutely INSIST that he be jailed or I'll just have to go to a higher power and have your job as well Sheriff," Judge Carter grumbled.

Lom closed his eyes and sighed loudly. "Alright Wilkins, put him in the cell."

"But Lom...," Heyes started to protest as the barred door slammed shut on him.

"I'll take care of him Judge Carter. Just go back to the hotel and try to enjoy the rest of your night," Lom said.

"Enjoy the night...," the judge muttered sarcastically to himself as he left the sheriff's office.

"Wilkins, go finish your rounds so I can go home," Lom instructed. The deputy left the office leaving him alone wih the inebriated ex-outlaw.

"Lom, come on. You're not going to really leave me in here are you?" Heyes asked holding on to the bars to steady himself.

"Sorry Heyes, but if that hateful old judge sees you loose at the hotel again, he's going to cause one more of a ruckus and you don't need that when you just got amnesty. We'll just wait until he leaves town and then let you out. Nobody will ever know except us. You want me to go over and tell the Kid?"

"No. I couldn't get him to wake up. He's probably out cold."

"Well, I'll tell him first thing in the morning. Why don't you lay down. Sounds like you got alot to sleep off."

Heyes nodded and sat down on the bunk. He was awful sleepy all of a sudden. Before long, he too was out cold.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"And that's what happened," Lom finished.

Kid had drained two more cups off coffee while listening to the story. Heyes still hadn't stirred. "You gonna let him out now?"

Lom finished off his own cup. "Not yet. There's a stage coach leaving in about fifteen minutes. I'll go over and see if our friendly judge is on it. Maybe he was just passing through. You can stay here with Heyes."

"Alright. Thanks Lom." Kid found himself needing more coffee. He went to make another pot.

A few minutes later, there was a groan coming from the cell. Kid walked over to the bars. "Mornin'."

Heyes pushed himself up very slowly to a sitting position. "It sure isn't a good one." He held his head in both hands.

"I knew better than to leave you alone in the saloon last night," Kid smiled.

"Coffee," was all Heyes said.

"It'll be ready in a minute. Heard you ran into a friend of ours."

"He ain't no friend of mine. I don't know how that old hateful coot could have any friends at all."

Curry laughed softly. "Heyes, maybe we should take it easy on the drinkin' for a while."

Heyes raised his head and looked at his cousin with bloodshot brown eyes. "Now where's the fun in that?" he smiled. Kid laughed again.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both nursing throbbing heads when Lom came back in the office. "Well Heyes, you got lucky. Judge Carter just left on the stage." He grabbed the cell keys and unlocked the door.

Heyes still sat there. He prepared to stand up. When he did, the world tilted again. He grabbed hold of a bar, then getting his balance, walked out of the cell and sat down in one of Lom's chairs. The coffee was hot enough by then and Curry handed him a cup.

"You two need to behave now," Lom lectured. "That amnesty hasn't been announced yet."

Heyes sipped his coffee. "Don't worry Lom. Think I'll stick to playing poker with just a beer or two for a little bit."

"Want to go get some breakfast?" Kid asked.

"If you feel even half as bad as I do, I don't know how you could think of food right now," Heyes said.

"I threw everything in me up last night in an alley. I'm hungry." Kid walked to the door. Heyes reluctantly followed.

"You're always hungry," Heyes muttered.

"What?" Kid asked as he went out the door.

"Nothing. Let's just go. See you later Lom." The door shut behind the two hungover ex-outlaws.

"See you boys." Lom smiled as he watched them go.


End file.
